Safety restraint systems in motor vehicles, such as safety belts and airbags, conventionally have pyrotechnic devices or charges that are able to trigger the tightening of a belt and/or the inflation of an airbag. The pyrotechnic device is triggered depending on shock and/or vibration data received by the vehicle's sensors. The control unit of such a sensor is generally linked to a corresponding pyrotechnic device by an electrical connector, also referred to as a pyrotechnic connector, which must be plugged and locked into a socket forming the mating connector. The mating connector is also referred to as an igniter support.
The electrical circuit of the safety restraint system should be deactivated when the pyrotechnic connector is separated from the mating connector to avoid unintentional activation of the system and the pyrotechnic discharge. Disconnecting the pyrotechnic connector from the mating connector could produce an electrostatic discharge, unintentionally activating the pyrotechnic device. Conventionally, the pyrotechnic connector and/or the mating connector are electrically or electronically monitored in order to verify both that the electrical circuit is effectively deactivated when the electrical connector is separated from the socket and that the electrical circuit is only activated when the electrical connector is correctly plugged into the socket.
Patent applications WO 2010/143078 A2 and WO 2011/058189 A1 disclose examples of electrical connectors for safety restraint systems such as an airbag in which, when a plug-in connector is separated from the mating connector, the electrically conductive contact elements of the electrical connector directly contact one another, producing a short-circuiting line. It is possible to ensure that the electrical circuit is deactivated as long as this short-circuiting line is not interrupted. The short-circuiting line is produced by an electrically conductive, resiliently deformable short-circuiting leg or tab provided on each of the contact pins of the connector. The tab of a contact pin is in physical contact, and therefore electrical contact, with the tab of the other contact pin, producing the short-circuit.
Once the electrical connector is correctly plugged into the mating connector, WO 2010/143078 A2 and WO 2011/058189 A1 further disclose the use of a connector position assurance (“CPA”) device. The CPA device not only locks the system but also activates the electrical circuit by interrupting the short-circuiting line. When the CPA device locks the system, a part of the CPA device is inserted between the short-circuiting tabs, separating the short-circuiting tabs and permitting activation of the electrical circuit of the safety restraint system. Upon a disconnection and once the CPA device has returned to its delivery position, the elastic return of the short-circuiting tabs to their initial position restores the short-circuit of the contact pins, thus deactivating the electrical circuit.
In these known systems, however, the metal tabs used for the short-circuit connection are thin and flat; the elasticity of tabs can be compromised after a certain number of system connections/disconnections. Failure of the elasticity of the tabs has a direct impact on the reliability of the electrical tests concerning the activated or deactivated state of the system.